


Dinner in the Library

by Lamia of the Dark (VisceraNight)



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Friendship, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-02
Updated: 2015-02-02
Packaged: 2018-03-10 04:25:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 588
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3276692
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VisceraNight/pseuds/Lamia%20of%20the%20Dark
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Helga is always taking care of her fellow Founders, but who cares for her?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dinner in the Library

~ Dinner in the Library ~

Rowena and Salazar make a concerted effort to ignore one another as they are both absorbed in the dusty pages of ancient tomes, each researching a disparate subject that would likely be of little interest to the other.

Rowena does not look up from her book as the door creaks open and Helga enters the library carrying a tray with two bowls of vegetable stew on it.

Salazar's chair is closer to the entrance of the room, but as Helga approaches, he says, "Ladies first" in a tone that brooks no argument, and - feeling she has no choice in the matter - she serves Rowena first.

The Lady Ravenclaw does not once tear her gaze away from the pages as she accepts the stew from Helga, settles the bowl in her lap, and begins to eat. Nor does she think to offer so much as a word of either thanks or praise in return for her friend's kindness.

Salazar, whose thirst for knowledge has never trumped his  _manners,_  closes his book and sets it aside.

"Thank you, my dear," he says to Helga as she hands him his dinner, and he is pleased to note the blush that creeps into her cheeks as his fingers brush against hers in the passing of it. "So thoughtful of you, always taking care of us."

"Someone needs to, or else the two of you would waste away in here with your noses stuck in books, forgetting that you need to eat and sleep."

He finds her little rant utterly adorable. Even her anger is steeped in caring. She always gets worked up over the well-being of others, runs herself ragged tending to Godric's wounds (and the reckless man seems to gain new injuries on a daily - if not  _hourly_  - basis) and keeping Rowena fed and rested. Salazar is willing to admit that he can be a bit neglectful of his own health at times, but he generally shifts for himself well enough.

"But who is taking care of you?" he says softly.

"I take care of myself," Helga retorts indignantly, but even as she says it she sees Salazar shaking his head at her. Her exhaustion is visibly apparent.

"Allow me," he says.

And before she can quite puzzle out what he means by that, he sets his bowl aside and gently draws her into his lap. Helga tenses and shoots a nervous glance at Rowena, but the other witch is still too absorbed in whatever she is reading to notice anything going on around her.

Turning back to Salazar, Helga whispers hesitantly, "We shouldn't..."

"You need to rest," he says. Holding her firmly against him, he lays one hand between her shoulder blades and begins to rub her back in a soothing motion.

She wants to protest but her body betrays her - as he knew it would - and she relaxes into his embrace.

"You need to eat," she argues.

"I will," he says,  _"after_  you sleep."

Helga sighs and buries her face against his shoulder. _It seems the only way to win this is by doing what he says... crafty Lord Slytherin always gets what he wants._

As she is about to drift off, she murmurs, "Tomorrow, let us send Godric on a quest to acquire house elves."

It would be much easier to keep her fellow Founders cared for that way, after all, and they were bound to need them once the school was finally opened and they started having students stay in the dormitories...

~end~


End file.
